Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Announces “Affordable Flat Rates Nationwide” For Remote Depositions & Virtual Court Reporting Services

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Virtual Depositions

Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters announced today that the company will now offer an affordable flat-rate fee for all remote depositions and virtual court reporting services for clients across the nation.

The company’s new pricing structure for these services is calculated on a price-per-page basis and is designed to significantly reduce litigation expenses for legal professionals throughout the United States.

Gregg Wolfe - US District Court“While our new per-page pricing structure has been very popular with clients across the United States, we have seen particularly high demand for these services in certain places like Texas, California, New York, and several other states, where traditional court reporting rates are significantly higher compared to the national average,” said the company’s CEO & Owner, Gregg Wolfe.

“With the growing demand for remote depositions and virtual court reporting services, we wanted to create a cost-effective solution specifically designed to help reduce litigation expenses for legal professionals nationwide,” said Wolfe.

Affordable Pricing For Virtual Services Reduces Litigation Costs

KLW Court Reporters Virtual Deposition

Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters is a leading provider of remote depositions and virtual court reporting services across the nation. The company is proud to offer 100% HIPAA Compliant Remote Depositions with no charges to participants for the connection.

Instead, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe charges an affordable price-per-page fee that applies to all remote deposition and virtual court reporting services across the nation with no additional costs.

Those interested in scheduling services with the company can do so by using KLW’s Online Deposition Scheduling Tool, by emailing scheduling@klwreporters.com or by calling the deposition scheduling department directly at (877) 559-3376.

Virtual Depositions Become A New Standard In The Legal Industry

Virtual Deposition Attorney

Due to the unexpected events of Covid-19 in recent months, professionals in the legal industry have increasingly turned to video-conferencing technology, such as Zoom, in order to conduct depositions from a remote environment.

The sharp rise in virtual litigation events in recent months started out of necessity as the legal industry was forced to adapt to new social-distancing requirements. However, many professionals in the legal industry have come to realize the benefits of remote depositions and virtual court reporting services, suggesting that this will be a growing trend going forward.

As a court reporting agency that prides itself on staying ahead of the curve by continually adopting innovative legal technology solutions, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters has been providing accurate transcripts with the latest technology for the past 40 years.

About Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters

Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters is a premier court reporting and litigation support agency that works with attorneys, law firms, insurance companies, corporations and other legal professionals across the United States.

The company is led by CEO & Owner, Gregg Wolfe, who recently retired from an impressive 35-year career as a highly-respected court reporter with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Company Contact Information:
Gregg Wolfe
CEO & Owner | Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters
(877) 559-3376 | scheduling@klwreporters.com

KLW Opens New Office In Boca Raton, Florida

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Boca Raton Florida City SealBoca Raton, FL – Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters has announced the official opening of a new office location in Boca Raton as part of the company’s strategic expansion in Southern Florida.

As a premier court reporting agency serving clients nationwide, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters has been a trusted partner of legal professionals throughout the State of Florida for decades.

The company’s newest office, located in Downtown Boca Raton, will serve as one of several regional headquarters for the company, which has additional office locations in Jupiter, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

Continued Commitment To Excellence

“The official opening of our Boca Raton office marks an important milestone in our company’s continued commitment to providing the legal community in Palm Beach County with the highest quality of court reporting and litigation support services,” said the company’s Owner & CEO, Gregg Wolfe.

“With our new presence in Boca Raton our company is able to better serve our existing client base in the area and we will begin to work on developing exciting new partnerships with legal professionals throughout Palm Beach County,” said Wolfe.

As the Owner and CEO of Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters for the past 40 years, Wolfe has led the organization throughout its impressive growth, taking the company from its origins as a local court reporting business and transforming it into one of the nation’s leading court reporting agencies serving clients across the United States.

In an industry that is becoming increasingly consolidated due to acquisitions from large private equity firms, Wolfe is proud to run one of the few remaining independently-owned court reporting agencies that is able to service clients nationwide.

Additionally, Wolfe’s 35-year career as a highly-respected court reporter with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania makes Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters one of the only court reporting firms that is independently-owned and operated by a retired court reporter.

Boca Raton’s Trusted Court Reporting & Litigation Support Partner

As a premier court reporting agency serving clients nationwide, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters has been a trusted partner of attorneys, law firms, corporate counsel, insurance companies and other legal professionals in the State of Florida for decades.

With the company’s new Boca Raton office now officially open for business, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters has taken an important step in securing its position as a leading provider of premier court reporting and litigation support services in the Palm Beach County area.

The company offers court reporting services in Boca Raton for a variety of litigation events including depositions, witness testimonies, courtroom hearings, meetings, arbitration and other legal proceedings.

Additionally, the company provides a full range of litigation support services including deposition summaries, legal videography, jury consulting, trial preparation, digital forensics, e-discovery, trial exhibits, witness preparation, translation services, document scanning, database management and more.

To schedule court reporting or litigation support services for upcoming legal proceedings in Palm Beach County please contact Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters at the company’s local office in Boca Raton by calling (561) 250-7435.

Company Contact Information:

Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters of Boca Raton
150 E Palmetto Park Rd #803
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(561) 250-7435
https://klwreporters.com/locations/florida-court-reporters/boca-raton/

Related Articles & Resources:

Gregg Wolfe Retires From US District Court For The Eastern District Of Pennsylvania To Focus On Role As CEO of Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporting & Litigation Support

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Gregg Wolfe US District CourtKaplan Leaman & Wolfe’s CEO, Gregg Wolfe, has announced his retirement from his 40-year career as a highly-respected court reporter with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

For five years Gregg worked as a per diem court reporter for the Federal Judges, followed by 35 years working as an Official Court Reporter within the District Court.

“I want to express my deep appreciation for the opportunity to work with so many incredible colleagues during my time at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,” said Mr. Wolfe. “My work here has also allowed me to engage with, and learn from, so many great attorneys, judges and staff over the past 40 years.”

Going forward, Mr. Wolfe plans to focus full time on his role as Owner and CEO at Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters, where he is responsible for the continued growth and success of the company.

Celebrating A Long & Successful Career With The US District Court

Mr. Wolfe’s impressive career with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania began in 1978, when he was hired as a freelance court reporter. During this time Mr. Wolfe was responsible for assisting the federal official court reporters with a variety of assignments and depositions.

In 1983, Mr. Wolfe was promoted as an Official Court Reporter to the Honorable Louis H. Pollak, where he went on to report hundreds of trials and hearings over the next decade.

Mr. Wolfe was subsequently hired by the Honorable J. Curtis Joyner in 1992 and had been his court reporter, as well as other judges, until his retirement. He has reported numerous high-profile court cases, all types of civil and criminal trials, as well as Multi-District Litigation Cases.

Turning To The Future

Mr. Wolfe will now focus 100% on operating his national court reporting agency, Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters, where he took possession of an existing company in 1982.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to focus 100% on KLW going forward,” said Mr. Wolfe. “We have an incredible team of very talented people at KLW and it is a great honor to be able to work with them every day to provide our clients with the exceptional service that they have come to expect from us.”

About Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporters

Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe Court Reporting & Litigation Support works with law firms, insurance companies and corporations across the United States to provide court reporting and turn-key litigation support of the highest caliber.

“We listen carefully to our clients and then partner with them to assess their needs and to assemble customized solutions.”

Our solution begins with the most qualified court reporters in the business who are meticulously vetted to answer to a higher standard. They are professional, produce flawless transcripts, meet deadlines and they have an intricate understanding of the legal system.

From there, we harness the full spectrum of available technology to enhance and customize each client’s experience. We use our commitment to service, online systems that integrate directly with law firms’ platforms, as well as competitive, transparent pricing so that – from Discovery to Verdict – we are able not just to meet, but to exceed our clients’ high expectations.

KLW is one of the only court reporting agencies in the country where the owner is an experienced Federal Court Reporter.

KLW EZ-Litigation App Makes Your Life A Bit Easier

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Any busy attorney knows that trying to put together a case while working in the field is difficult. It would be easier if there was a mobile solution that helped attorneys take care of litigation details while using their smartphone. Now there is. The EZ-Litigation app created by Kaplan Leaman & Wolfe (KLW), not only helps lawyers with time management concerns but, comes with incredible features that make it a powerful business tool for attorneys to use on the go.

An Overview of the EZ-Litigation AppKLW mobile- pp iphone

The beauty of the EZ-Litigation app is that all attorneys and legal support staff are now able to accomplish a lot of tasks on-the-go and all from a smartphone. The app allows a lawyer to schedule a deposition, make it to appointments on time and give accurate directions to clients and prevent waiting for depositions to begin by using the built-in GPS.

Lawyers can also use the EZ-Litigation app to download transcripts and review documents that are safely stored in a secure repository any time of the day or night. In addition, the app allows you to pay professional invoices and monitor legal news. The app is compatible with iOS and the Android operating system, which means it will work on most smartphones and tablets. Below is further explanation of how the app makes scheduling a deposition and downloading transcripts easier.

Schedule A Deposition

To save time and money, the EZ-Litigation app allows an attorney to directly schedule a deposition. The app helps you arrange for your depositions anywhere in the world by simply filling out the form that is already in the app. The experienced staff at KLW will schedule a reporter and follow up on every detail. There is also the option to bypass the online form and instead click, email, and attach your deposition notice. A confirmation email will be sent to you on or before the next business day and another confirmation will be sent again the day prior to the deposition date.

Deposition and Hearing Transcripts

Another important factor of this app is the worldwide availability of deposition and hearing transcripts. The app provides secure downloads of full sized or condensed deposition or hearing transcripts and up to eight transcript pages per sheet. There are also searchable E-transcripts that you can immediately receive and print as you go.

Other Services On The AppiPhone mobile apps

Other services that are available for further exploration on the app include:
• Video deposition court reporting services
• National court reporting services, including last-minute deposition or reporting coverage
• Litigation, including national trial support and assistance, trial and courtroom presentation
• Technology including local and real-time depositions, video conferencing, video text synchronization

An attorney’s day has so many moving parts and the EZ-Litigation app is the first of its kind app that allows attorneys, paralegals and anyone else in the legal field to efficiently manage depositions, download transcripts and make payments from one platform. Being able to do all this makes the app a necessary must-have in the legal community.

Will The Internet & Wearable Devices Affect The Practice Of Law?

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The next revolution in technology involves a major shift in how we use the Internet and its integration into everyday items we use. It is already taking place with wearables becoming more prevalent in society like the new Apple iWatch, Google Glasses, and the GoPro Camera.  The future of the Internet of Things (IoT) will radically change both how law firms use the Internet and privacy cases regarding these IoTs.

Wearables Are forcing Changes Now

The wearable revolution is the first of the two major shifts that are expected to shake up how businesses and people use the Internet. From using smartphones and mobile devices like tablets, wearables are the next step in incorporating the Internet into everything we do.

Just as businesses had to contend with employees using their mobile devices for texts and emails that may contain private information, wearables present similar issues for law firms on a much larger scale. The iWatch and other watch wearable Internet devices are bringing email, text and files onto your person like never before. These wearable devices are providing easy access to information like we’ve never seen. As a law firm, you will need to address the security and privacy concerns of these devices.

If you already have a policy for mobile devices and smartphones, it can be updated to include wearable devices that can transmit, create, and share client information. Yet, depending on the device better security functions may be needed in order to shut down the accessibility of that information should the wearable be lost. Understanding the specific security features of wearables will be necessary to make determinations on which will be included in ‘allowable and secure’ devices within your firm.

These same principles and security mandates can then be applied to other devices as they come on the market, such as Google Glasses or other devices that have abilities to record audio or video or create documents or metadata. Imagine apps on wearables that can record client sessions, upload those sessions to the cloud infrastructure and provide instant records for billing or other uses. The security and privacy implications are considerable. Combining these concerns with the next revolution of IoT and consumer cases means law firms need to start working on these policies immediately.

IoT Radical Changes

The Internet of Things is the development of Internet connectivity in everyday items. This could include your refrigerator reminding you that you need milk on your next grocery run, lights and doors that turn on or unlock at the push of your smartphone button or even technology in your car that schedules your next appointment for preventative maintenance. The bounds of this technology are just starting to be explored and could provide amazing amounts of metadata on our everyday lives. The privacy implications for consumers are quite large.

Imagine an appliance manufacturer that takes advantage of the information uploaded to the cloud regarding your use? Cases regarding data breaches and personal identity theft are on the rise with the use of cloud computing and the Internet for everyday tasks.

If you are a law firm, contending with these issues will need to be done sooner rather than later. Technology already moves at a pace that most businesses are hard pressed to keep up with. As attorneys for these businesses you will need to be industry leaders providing advice and consultation through the myriad of privacy and security issues that will arise.

What The USA Freedom Act Means For Privacy

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Bulk surveillance collection by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies were doomed to change after the mass leak by Edward Snowden in 2013. The revelations of that single interview sent shock waves across the globe as American citizens and allies of the US realized simultaneously how much content was being collected and analyzed. Both sides are claiming a win with the USA Freedom Act; privacy advocates claim a win limiting bulk collection, while security proponents maintain the new Act allows collection within relevance.

What the Act Changes

The US Patriot Act allowed unprecedented collection of bulk records from the phone companies on every single US citizen and for every call placed outgoing from the US to other countries. Phone companies often kept these bulk records for up to 5 years, allowing a long look back period for security agencies. Information collected included user, number, location, duration and the second tier. The second tier collection allowed data collection on any person that the target called within the collection period. This essentially provided data collection on a scale never before done in the world.

The USA Freedom Act changes the nature of the data collection from one of bulk collection to one of relevant collection. This is where both sides of the privacy-security argument are placated. Bulk collection of phone calls are removed, but essentially security agencies only need to draw a relevance to national security or concern to be able to maintain their collection efforts, including the second tier collection. Records will need to be kept by phone companies for 18 months instead of 5 years. In essence, anyone who becomes of interest to the government and meets the “relevance” test is still open to phone data collection.

FISA Court

The relevance test of the USA Freedom Act will be administered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Court. Before this act the test was conducted in closed and secret meeting and was not required to disclose its findings. With the new act the court will be required to periodically disclose its more important decisions. It will also allow external arguments in regards to cases that infringe on privacy rights of citizens.

A privacy advocate for citizens was also added to the FISC broadening the path to privacy for US citizens. However, the Act does not change any of the surveillance programs listed under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. This section was formerly a secret section dealing with the bulk collection of surveillance upon foreigners, which includes mass amounts of communications of US citizens as well.

A Tiny Step Forward

Although both sides are claiming a win with this new legislation, the USA Freedom Act is very limited in its application. The Act does not touch a number of other bulk data collection efforts by US security agencies such as PRISM (read more about PRISM here) which collects bulk data on American citizen’s use of the Internet. There are still many other surveillance programs previously enacted that will also remain untouched by this Act.

Furthermore, the new act, allows bulk collection of phone data for an extended 180 days, allowing 6 months of unfettered phone data collection of every single person in the US and all their foreign outgoing calls. It also does not change the infamous “allies spying” apparatus that allows the US to spy on the communications of any foreigner, or any call destined outside the US.

The USA Freedom Act for all intents and purposes is a move in the right direction, but its actual application in limiting bulk surveillance collection is quite small and could be inconsequential depending on how relevance is determined by the FISA court.

Law Firms And Banking Industry Cyber Attacks

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Protecting your Information

Did you know that in 2011, 90 percent of American companies said they had been hacked at least once? In 2012 alone there were over 600 confirmed hacks and while many of those hacks targeted small businesses, a fair number targeted law firms.Read more about 2011 cyber attacks here.

Law firms are quickly becoming a popular target among cyber-thieves because of their clients. Law firms have access to personal information including bank accounts, social security numbers, birth dates etc. Many hackers also know that law firms are skilled at researching clients. Successful hackers can access information and quickly attack financial avenues.   Many law firms are now working with professional companies to stay on top of potential threats.  Since cyber hackers are learning more and finding more avenues for exploitation every day, it’s understandably difficult to keep up with the threats.

Security Improvement Against Cyber Attacks

In order to help improve security at law firms there are a few things firms should consider:

  1. Reveal cybersecurity profiles

Being more revealing within the law community is one way to help and learn from each other. Sharing potential security threats with like companies will help everyone. Information is power and law firms will be better able to protect themselves from threats they know about.

  1. Keep clients informed about potential data breaches:

Companies are generally required to inform clients or customers of potential hacks. It’s good business practice and it lets your clients know they can trust you. Letting a client know their personal information may have been compromised gives them time to prepare and protect themselves.

  1. Hire security:

Hire professionals who understand cyber-threats and are capable of working with your security systems. Communicating with other firms and businesses about vulnerabilities, threats and security systems will only work if you have someone qualified to put adequate protection in place.

  1. Pay attention:

Lawyers are busy. Between cases, paperwork and court sessions there is a lot to do! While this makes for excellent workers, it also makes for easy targets. Busy workers are less likely to notice or pay attention to warning signs that could indicate a breach. Simply encouraging lawyers to pay a little more attention to emails they open, links they download and unexpected updates on their computers can make a big difference.

  1. Have a plan:

One way you can help protect your company is by creating a cyber-threat plan. This may include training for lawyers and office staff on how to recognize and handle a potential breach. You will need to have a plan for contacting clients affected and dealing with potential information leaks. If your law firm experiences a major breach, you’ll likely need to work with the press to get your message out.

Plan now so that if the unexpected happens you can act quickly to stop as much damage as possible.

Keep Your Clients & Company Safe

While it is understandable that law firms may not want to spend a lot of money worrying about cyber threats, the potential for loss and damage is very real. Cyber-attacks are occurring more frequently at law firms because security is so much more lax than banking institutions. This is unfortunate because most law firms have a lot of personal information at hand. Fully grasping the potential for loss is necessary if law firms are to take the threats seriously.

We know that your law firm honors privacy and protection. Paying attention will help you keep your company and your clients safe.

An Overview of Predictive Coding Made Easier Using Everlaw

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Large cases take tremendous amounts of time for discovery, especially when document proliferation has reached an all-time high. However Everlaw has been refining its discovery software into a predictive coding, translation and case outline tool that has redefined legal technology again.

Key Features of Everlaweverlogo

1. Translation Added

Everlaw has added an automatic translation feature into its software that not only translates, but does so by automatically detecting the language and performing automatic translations. Through the automatic language detection and translation procedure, Everlaw then annotates the document set of the same language into groups. It then determines whether the documents are primary to your investigation and relevant.

With this amazing new feature with up to 53 programmed languages you can filter documents per language, group them together, analyze their relevance and send them to an appropriate reviewer. The software however, is not meant to do machine translation of documents; you will still need separate translation services for those documents that are deemed relevant.

2. Predictive Coding Engine

The Everlaw software is based on a continuous active learning system that allows the software to actually learn based on previous searches that you have done. Essentially the more you use the software, the better and more accurate it becomes at finding relevant documents for your cases based on your criteria and its predictive coding engine.

By using the software’s smart interface you can generate prediction models based around any pair of classifications that is relevant to your actual case. The prediction models begin automatically as soon as you start conducting reviews and searches within the documents. This way, those documents that are not relevant as you have already established, provide a learning curve for the program to sort out and cull all the non-relevant documents based on your own search criteria.

Yet, what if you are short on time and have not had time to start reviewing documents or conducting searches? The predictive coding is still applicable and useful. Simply choose the variables that you believe are relevant to your deponent and conduct a search of documents not yet reviewed with a relevant score of 75% or greater. Afterwards, conduct a search of those predicted to be not relevant at 25% or below and spot check those documents. If the check supports the prediction model you can move on quickly.

3. StoryBuilder

While you prepare your case, often you make an outline and follow it to the cases conclusion. Within the software this can also be used to help organize your searches for discovery enabling clean and efficient lines of questioning, searching and analysis of the documents.

Through building your evidence as you would your case in court, it enables a much better cohesive argument to form at an earlier stage in the process. Story building helps you weave a compelling narrative using the evidence based in the documents that you have reviewed and searched during discovery with Everlaw. See the StoryBuilder overview here.

Information Overload Made Easier

Everlaw software is transforming how attorneys handle information overload. Instead of hiring a hundred interns, you can now have an easy to use software application to ensure nothing is missed in discovery.

Hilary Clinton Email Saga

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Why should anyone care that Hillary Clinton sent emails over her home server using a personal email account when she was Secretary of State, instead of using a government-sanctioned email account?

Mainly because there’s something called the Federal Records Act that clearly states federal agency heads (such as the Secretary of State) “shall…preserve records containing…documentation of the organization…policies, procedures, decisions and essential transactions of that agency and furnish information necessary to protect the financial and legal rights of the Government and those affected by the activities of that agency”.

According to most news outlets, Clinton’s personal email account contained over 62,000 emails that were sent and received during her tenure as Secretary of State. The State Department has been given more than 30,000 of those emails in printed form. However, 31, 380 of those 62,000 emails have been deleted because “they were private”.

Is This A Problem?

Clinton and fellow Democrats claim there is no problem with using a personal email account and service. It was simply more convenient for a busy Secretary of State to worry about using one device instead of lugging around a government phone and a personal phone. Clinton also insists she did not violate the Federal Records Act nor did she risk exposing classified or sensitive information while using her personal email account. In addition, Clinton has also taken “unprecedented” steps to provide the State Department with work emails for a complete review.

Legaltech News reports that Clinton’s method of searching for work-related emails was not only ineffective but questionable.  Searching for emails using a handful of key terms just to “cut corners” fosters doubts about the validity of this decision.

A source for Legaltech News states that keyword searches are typically “under-inclusive or over-inclusive”, meaning that keyword searches for emails lack the power to detect all emails imperative to the investigation. According to that source, finding just one sentence in any email that references government affairs makes that email a federal record. Instead of doing a keyword search, Clinton may have been smarter to have her emails searched manually.

The Importance of Information Governance

The question of who searched Clinton’s emails is another aspect of this legal technology case that will likely influence how the case is investigated by the State Department. For example, if a lawyer performed the search, will that establish attorney-client privilege? Did the person who searched her emails have official security clearance? Also, the legality of how “private” a private server is may prevent Congress from issuing a subpoena for access to Clinton’s private server, since the government does not “own” private servers.

Former Director of Litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, Jason Baron, remarked that the Clinton email controversy aptly characterizes the importance of establishing vigorous information governance (IG) guidelines by any organization that relies heavily on email to send, and receive communications.

What are the expected results of the Clinton email saga? Many say it will eventually fade into obscurity, overshadowed by other news that doesn’t involve complex legal issues that seem to have no beginning and no end.

What You Need To Know About Net Neutrality

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Net neutrality advocates everywhere were pleased with the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen the support for net neutrality by making internet broadband connections a telecommunications service as defined by the FCC. Although freedom access pundits are claiming this is a major victory for users and consumers of the internet everywhere, another faction is also claiming it as another victory for privacy rights of broadband users.

What is Net Neutrality?

Essentially, net neutrality is what is already in place in most western countries; free, unfettered and equal access to all types of communications via the web. Whether you are a single mobile user, a small business or a large consumer of data on the web, current providers do not block, treat differently, throttle or charge for different speeds of delivery of that content. What large cable companies and telecommunication companies like Verizon and Comcast want is to be able to develop a tiered system where they can charge customers different prices based on the speed of the broadband, as well as being able to block certain high bandwidth content such as videos on Netflix.

With the FCC making the internet and broadband a public communication utility service, it essentially guarantees that it remains unblocked, for now at least. Congress, the judicial system or even future FCC boards can change the current decision and reverse the current situation. So how does this affect your privacy?

Net Neutrality and Your Privacy

Previous to this decision, internet service and broadband providers were not considered common carriers, whereas telephone communications were. The difference is quite a sweeping change to previous rules regarding your ability to surf the web in privacy. Before the current changes, your internet service provider was subject to Section 222 of the Communications Act, because it was not classified as a public communications service.

Now that it has been classified as such, cable companies, internet service providers and telephone companies providing broadband access on their phones are all now required to meet a different level of consumer privacy, read more about this here. This section in the Act requires communication companies to protect consumers’ proprietary information. This not only refers to the type of service provided and its technical aspects, but also any information that is made available to the carrier by the consumer as a result of this relationship.

On a traditional phone, this was simply limited to keeping your conversations and phone calls private including who you called and the nature of the content of the call. With applying the rule to internet usage there are broader implications. Now these providers can no longer get away with selling your usage data to third parties without your consent. They will need to protect every aspect of your relationship with the carrier including the content you consume, how it is consumed which includes websites visited, videos watched and searches made.

The FCC is also a federal body that enforces privacy on a broader scope than the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which was previously responsible for consumer privacy with respect to internet use. With the FCC there are already very strict regulations concerning telecommunications and these can be easily applied directly to internet usage now that all internet service providers are considered common carriers, the same as telephone companies.

Although Net Neutrality was a huge win for a consumer’s right to devour online content, it is even a larger win for privacy advocates.